The paper suggests that Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri head a group of 11 whose futures are in doubt.

This is because of the huge pressure on Roberto Mancini to compete with his rivals from across the city. The players simply aren’t deemed good enough any more.

So might Arsenal be in a position to profit from the release of one or more of the players?

I think that it is unlikely that Arsenal will qualify for the Champions League next season. It will be close but I think next season will be all about rebuilding a side that will ensure a top four finish and go on to mount a series Premiership challenge in the 2014-15 season. So the club needs players who will guarantee that the team qualifies for the Champions League next year as well as providing the building blocks for something better.

An awful lot of these players have done just that with City. Sure they may have been attracted by the huge wages, but they helped take city from middle table to Premierhsip winners.

What Arsenal need at the moment is three things. Leaders, winners and players who have excelled in the Premiership. Man City are offering players that have all three of those attributes.

So yes I would welcome Nasri back and Wenger has been a long term admirer of Edin Dzeko too. Kolo Toure, and especially Garth Barry could well be very useful squad players whose bags of experiences could help bring on Ramsey, Wilshere, Jenkinson and the rest of the Gunners’ youngsters.

As much as I would love Arsenal to spend £70 million on marquee signings – they simply won’t be able to compete with their rivals for Jovetic and Falcao. The club need a degree of stability in the Premiership and the Man City cast offs could certainly help them there.